1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a chemical composition designed and formulated for the safe suppression and control of fires involving liquid hydrocarbons and/or polar solvents.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many fire fighting compositions have employed the mechanism of using a foam blanket to smother the fire and isolate the fuel from an oxygen source that will support combustion of the fuel. Many of them do not produce stable foams in the presence of extremely volatile liquid hydrocarbons and polar solvents. The most successful compositions have used fluorocarbon surfactants as a part of their surfactant group. The presence of the fluorocarbons gives an aqueous solution that will form a tough film to seal the hydrocarbon surface and stabilize the foam formation. Fluorocarbon surfactants are very chemically stable, making them invulnerable to many forms of degradation. Soil bacteria are not able to metabolize fluorocarbon surfactants. At test facilities where repeated use of these materials has occurred, fluorocarbon surfactants have descended through the soil without being degraded by the normal bacterial compliment, and have contaminated groundwater. Movement of the fluorocarbon surfactants through the groundwater has resulted in contamination of potable water supplies. Their long life has made their indiscriminate use an environmental threat.
Application of most foams, comprised of common surfactants, to volatile hydrocarbon and polar solvent surfaces will result in the rapid breakdown of the foam resulting in failure to extinguish and seal.